Soulmates
by Jackson the Griffin-Breeder
Summary: Kyoya is her best friend, and there's no way she'd let anyone change that. (eventual kyoharu, but I'm taking my time)
1. Chapter 1

Haruhi sat in an overstuffed armchair in the slightly-too-large apartment Kyoya took up when he decided to continue his education in the United States. She looked down at her English textbook in frustration. Studying in the US meant studying in English—but at least the university had a program for international students.

Her first week there, she'd learned that studying in her dorm room wasn't an option. It's not that her roommate was inconsiderate, she just had a learning style that required background noise and a lot of movement, and Haruhi couldn't handle it. She would have considered asking Tish to leave the room to study, but the library wasn't so keen on noise either, and Tish didn't have any family or friends in the area. Considering she was the one with options, she conscientiously took them. After the library closed at 8, she'd pack her books up and head over to Kyoya's ridiculous apartment, which was never particularly noisy and always had good food. In the semester they had been there, the bond they'd formed in high school had moved from "close" to "inseparable".

At the moment, Kyoya was dicing tomatoes with practiced precision and dumping them into a simmering pot on the stove that smelled suspiciously amazing. He'd turned out to be a fantastic cook (unfortunately(?) for Haruhi), and cooking had become an outlet for stress. Haruhi was trying to study, but the longer whatever that was on the stove cooked, the better it smelled, and the hungrier she got. Finally, she gave up with a tired sigh and made her way over to the breakfast bar, sitting down across from him. He glanced up. "What's wrong, Haruhi? Had enough studying for the day yet?"

Normally she would have laughed and made a sarcastic retort (probably about his cooking skills, or possibly his own studies), but today she narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Hey, what do you want to do on Friday?"

He blinked. "Don't you have a date?"

She snatched a piece of tomato and popped it in her mouth before answering. "I did, but now I don't. What's it to you?"

There was a pause as he slid the rest of the tomato chunks into the pot and began skinning a clove of garlic. "I thought you liked the guy," he said, placing the garlic on the cutting board and smashing it with the side of his knife.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so too. Oh well."

He looked up and waited for her to make eye contact. She was carefully studying the clove of garlic still on the cutting board, but when his hands didn't move she looked up, warily. "What?"

"Were you planning on telling me what happened?"

She scrunched up her nose at him. "It's none of your business, Kyoya."

He blinked again. Whatever that boy had done, he was going to get it. She always told him what was wrong. _It must be bad_. "You are my best friend, Haruhi. Of course it's my business." He thought his voice probably sounded a little worried, but she would have noticed anyway. Even distracted, she read him better than anyone ever had.

She sighed again. "So I suppose you ran your standard background check on him, then."

His grimace betrayed him. "I found nothing, not on him, at least. His father has had a few infractions, but I'm not really one to judge a person on their parents. Why, did you discover something I didn't?"

"No," she said thoughtfully, "No, I didn't. He just—well, anyway, I broke up with him. No big deal."

He continued his cooking, waiting for her to explain, but his patience wore out as the chili began to boil. "What happened, Haruhi?"

"He gave me an ultimatum. I told him not to, I told him he'd loose. I don't know why he thought it was a good idea to do it anyway."

"An ultimatum?"

She waved her hand around for emphasis. "Yeah, he said something about 'spending too much time with other men' and 'I should be enough', but that just means 'I don't trust you', you know? Anyhow, I would have given him time to come around and start trusting me, but he said I had to pick one guy and stick with it. I told him he'd loose."

He found he was spending a lot of time blinking at her tonight. "He asked you to pick one guy for what?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "just 'one guy'. I told him you were my best friend and I wasn't giving that up, but he wouldn't listen. He told me I had to pick him or you, so, obviously, I broke up with him. I mean, seriously? Did he think I was going to pick someone who doesn't trust me over my best friend?"

"Not to mention, I'm a pretty great cook," he muttered, trying to absorb the information.

She laughed. "Yeah, I picked you for your culinary skills. I should have told him that, I wonder what he would have done?"

He turned away to stir his creation and think.

"Haruhi?"

She rested her head on her hand and looked up at the back of his head. "Yeah?"

There was a pause before he answered, but she waited patiently. Whatever he had to say, he'd say it.

He sighed and turned to face her. "I don't want you to give anything up because of me. I will always be here for you, but I hope you won't sacrifice your chance at happiness because you think you need to stick with me. I promise I won't hate you."

"Kyoya, I didn't break up with him out of a sense of obligation. It wasn't a sacrifice. I mean, what kind of a relationship would we have, anyway? What kind of a guy separates a girl from her best friend and then expects her to be happy about it? That's ridiculous."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Besides," she said, "if I ever did stop talking to you because I was dating a guy who told me to, you had better be angry with me. In that situation, I expect you to come talk some sense into me, alright? Seriously, if you let me be with a guy that wants to control my friendships with other people, I will never forgive you."

"Hmm," he considered, "well, when you put it like that. I certainly wouldn't want you to end up married to someone who thought they could dictate your decisions to you. You are much too independent for that—you'd probably go mad."

Her smile warmed up his heart, like it always did. He was suddenly glad she wasn't dating that guy anymore. He may have been acceptable, but he wasn't anywhere near good enough for Haruhi. Not that anyone was, to be honest.

"See? That's why I picked you. You let me be myself—not to mention you cook really great food. What else do I need?"

He laughed. He was starting to sound like a housewife. The image of himself in a ruffley apron with a broom, welcoming her home from a day at the office came to mind—and surprisingly, it sounded pretty great. If he was going to spend the rest of his life with someone, he'd pick his best friend every time. Not that he'd admit that. Not the apron bit, anyway.

He served up the chili and set a bowl in front of each of them, pulling out the bar stool from under the counter and sitting where he had been standing. "It's chili. I had it in a restaurant last week with that guy I'm doing that project with. I figured I'd give it a try. It looks like a mess, but it did in the restaurant too. I think it's supposed to."

She took a small bite, blowing on it to cool it off first. "It's pretty good!" she declared, taking larger bites.

"Thanks."

He thought for a moment, while they ate. She had just given up a relationship with a guy she'd liked for the sake of this friendship. What was he supposed to do with that_? Am I obligated to always sacrifice for her, too? _He thought. _Not that I wouldn't, come to think of it. As much as I'd like to get married and settle down, I don't think I could ever be with someone who didn't accept her, too. Perhaps we are a package deal? _

It was Haruhi's turn to play the psychologist. "What are you thinking about, Kyoya?"

He sighed. It was fairly useless keeping secrets from her, so he figured he'd go for it. "You know I'd pick you, too, right? I mean, if I'd been in the same situation."

She smiled. "Of course you would. I mean, unless you found someone who could always tell when something was wrong and how to fix it. Then I might be out of a job."

He chuckled, "There's more to this friendship than understanding, you know. I also just genuinely like you. I mean, I want to have my own family one day, but if I've got to give this up to do so, I'm just going to have to be Japan's most eligible bachelor for the next 50 years or so."

She tapped her chin in thought. "Well, that would just be stupid. If it comes down to it, you can just marry me."

He almost choked, but grabbed the nearby glass of water and chugged.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't thought about it. I mean, we might not be romantically attached, but I have no intention of ever leaving you behind. If my options are to marry someone who doesn't like you, or live alone for the rest of my life, I'll make my own third option and just live with you. You're practically family anyway."

He put down the glass of water and picked up his spoon. "That's actually a really great plan. I'd be honored to be your back-up spouse."

She smiled up at him, a soft twinkle in her eyes. "It's a deal."

The leftover chili was put away (Haruhi would have taken some home but it would have been useless as she would be back the next day anyway), and the last of the dishes had been loaded into the dishwasher. Haruhi was packing her books away when Kyoya cleared his throat.

"What is it, Kyoya?"

He looked a bit nervous, unsure of how what he had to say would be received. Suddenly, his expression turned determined, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Haruhi, do you believe in soulmates?"

That was not what she had expected. "I think so. I mean, I don't know about destiny, but I'm sure there are people who feel they are an integral part of each other's lives. Why?"

He gulped, but pressed on. "I do. I didn't think I did, but I do. I'm not sure that everyone has a soulmate, but I'm sure they exist."

She left her books for a moment and walked over to take his hand. "What is it, Kyoya? What's bothering you?"

He squeezed her hand and smiled a little, soft smile. "I don't think that having a soulmate automatically makes you romantically attracted to them. I mean, I think Hikaru and Kaoru are probably soulmates, and they aren't like that. Sometimes friendship is the strongest form of affection. I just—" he sighed.

She cocked her head to the side and smiled. "Kyoya, do you think we are soulmates?

It is uncertain how long they stood there, searching out each other's eyes, but to them it seemed a comfortable forever.

"Yes, yes I do."

She laughed. "Good, 'cause so do I."


	2. Chapter 2

Kyoya was flipping through the new recipe book he'd bought, looking for the perfect cake to make. Normally baking wasn't his thing, but Tamaki and company (including everyone's favorite cakeaholic) were scheduled to fly in the next day, and he wanted to be prepared. He'd gotten reservations for dinner at a nice restaurant already, and everything was set. He just had to make a cake.

The last day of school before fall break had come to and end a few hours ago, and already Haruhi had brought all her books over and started planning for finals. Kyoya shook his head, glancing over to where she had set up shop on his couch. She'd already fallen asleep, highlighter in hand and a calculus book threatening to fall to the floor. He set down the recipe book and walked over to rescue it. She'd probably blame him if it got damaged, anyway.

He capped the highlighter and set it and the book on the coffee table, smiling at his overworked best friend. She hadn't slept much the past few weeks, so he wasn't about to wake her up now. As angry as she'd be when she woke up that she didn't get her finals prep done, at least she would be well-rested.

He took off her glasses to set them on her books and held back a snort. She wasn't really snoring, so much as breathing loudly, but he'd tease her about it anyway. And she was drooling all over her own shoulder. (At least she was wearing her own sweater today.) She'd been sitting cross-legged with the calculus book in her lap when she fell asleep, so at this point she was half bent over toward the armrest in what looked like an extremely uncomfortable position. Kyoya thought it best to fix this before she damaged something important-like her spine- so he maneuvered her legs until she was lying down flat, face on the throw pillow.

"What do you want for dinner, Dad?" she asked in her sleep, squeezing the pillow.

Kyoya rolled his eyes affectionately. "Go back to sleep, Haru. You can cook when you wake up."

A sleepy "Okay!" was all he got in response. He pulled an afgan over her and shook his head one more time before walking back over to the kitchen counter and picking up his recipe book again. _Maybe I should try the red velvet?_ He glanced in his spice cabinet to make sure he had food coloring. _Check._ He nodded thoughtfully.

As he started gathering the ingredients, the doorbell rang. Kyoya glanced up at Haruhi to make sure she was still sleeping and rushed toward the door to prevent the bell from ringing again. He opened the door, walked out, and closed it behind him, slapping away the hand closest to his doorbell in the process. "Morons! You'll wake her up!" he growled.

"Well, hello to you, too!"

"Yeah, nice to see you! Long time no see, grouchy-pants!"

"Good to see America hasn't changed you!"

"Wait- who's 'her'? You have a girl in your apartment?"

Kyoya was done waiting for them to stop talking. "I thought you were coming in tomorrow?"

"Well, that was the original plan, but—"

"—we decided it would be more fun to surprise you!"

"Actually it was the boss's idea, we just thought it sounded fun."

Kyoya blinked and looked around. If this was Tamaki's idea, where was he? All he was seeing were the twins.

Kaoru took pity. "The boss is chatting up the doorman. He'll be up in a bit, I assume. So, can we come in, or is the mystery girl taking the bed you promised us?"

Kyoya stopped thinking about the fate of the poor new doorman and remembered that Haruhi was asleep and he didn't want her woken up. "She's not a mystery girl, it's Haruhi. And she's asleep, finally. So I don't want you making any sudden loud noises." He sighed. "But I suppose you should bring in your suitcases. I'll show you where to put them and then we can go rescue the doorman."

He lead them into his home, past the couch, and into the guest bedroom, where he instructed them in whispers to set their bags in the corner and follow him. On the way out, he noticed that Haruhi had already kicked off the afghan, and went to fix it.

Haruhi reached out a hand in her sleep, and grabbed his shirt. "Kyo, will you make me a pizza? You're good at pizza," she mumbled softly.

He rolled his eyes again. "Go back to sleep first. I'll make you a pizza when you wake up, okay?"

She smiled and let go. "Okay!" she giggled. He brushed the hair out of her face and smiled, standing.

The twins looked at each other. She was totally wearing Kyoya's pants. And sleeping on his couch. And talking to him in her sleep. This was highly suspicious.

"Let's go," Kyoya mouthed at them, and lead the way out of the apartment and down the way they had come.

They met Tamaki on the stairs, who, of course, immediately went nuclear.

"Mon ami!" he cried. "It's been so long! My friend, how are you?" He threw himself at Kyoya, who, of course, stood there and took it. He had missed his friend.

"Did you get the doorman's number, Boss?" asked Hikaru. Kaoru and Kyoya both glared at him—one out of subconscious jealousy, and the other out of a hope that he wouldn't get blamed when the doorman quit. He liked this building.

Tamaki just giggled rather unflatteringly and produced a small piece of paper. "Of course. I may not know much English, but, fortunately, young Thomas knows some French! Lovely man! Why didn't you tell me you had such a nice doorman, Kyoya!? Or do you have a little crush on him yourself?"

Kyoya didn't feel like that was worth a response.

"Oh, didn't you know? Kyoya and Haruhi are a thing now!" Hikaru said, before Tamaki could ramble on to other subjects.

"Yeah, she's sleeping upstairs right now!" Kaoru cut in, not willing to miss a piece of the action.

Tamaki blinked and turned to an exasperated Kyoya. "How could you?!" he wailed, "How could you not tell me about this?! I thought we were friends, I thought you told me everything!? Why would you go behind my back like this? Not that I'm not happy for you, I am! I always thought you two should get together. But still!"

"Haruhi and I are not together, now, or ever. Trust me, I would have told you. So stop going on about it, and let's get out of this stairwell. We'll put your stuff up and come back down to the lobby so we don't wake her up." Kyoya turned on his heel and marched back up the stairs, not even checking to see if they were following.

Kaoru shook his head. "So defensive."

Tamaki looked from brother to brother, then back at Kyoya, who was a full flight of stairs up now. "I wonder why? Does he think we wouldn't support them?"

All three of them shrugged in unison and followed their host up the stairs.

* * *

><p>Hey there! So, I found this-I hadn't realized I'd made it to a stopping point the last time I worked on it, otherwise I would have already posted! I'll try to get the next bit up within the week. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

When Haruhi woke up, she was exactly where she thought she'd be—except she was lying down and tucked in_. Stupid Kyoya_, she thought affectionately, _I have so much to do!_

There was a little blue sticky-note on her glasses, and after she put them on, she recognized her friend's strict, small handwriting.

_Tamaki and the twins arrived early. We've gone downstairs to the game room—come down when you're awake. –Kyoya_

She sighed and looked longingly at her textbooks, neatly stacked alongside her writing utensils. The boys weren't leaving until the end of the break, so this had been her last chance to study_. Oh well_, she thought_, apparently Kyoya thought it was more important that I sleep_. She narrowed her eyes_. Stupid Kyoya_.

A moment of brooding passed before she had a thought. _Perhaps I can guilt him into making me something tasty to eat?_

She smiled the whole way down the stairs.

* * *

><p>The game room on the first floor of Kyoya's building was a warm, jazzy sort of room, painted in muted orange and furnished with dark brown leather armchairs. The pool table at the center of the room gave it its name, of course, but little else about it seemed particularly game-ish. Haruhi found her friends sitting around a coffee table in the far corner of the room.<p>

"What's up, guys?" she asked, a bit sleepily, but still bracing for impact.

Tamaki was standing before she finished her question, and the three guests shouted in unison, "Haruhi!"

And suddenly she was being squeezed within an inch of her life. _Just like old times_, her heart said—but her lungs disagreed with the sentiment. "Guys! I can't breathe! Oh, where's Mori-senpai when I need him!"

Kyoya cleared his throat. "I feel I should warn you that the security team in this building has become attached to Haruhi, and I will not hesitate to call them if you do not stop harassing her."

Instantly, she could breathe again, and she took the opportunity to hug them each back, albeit less painfully. "It's nice to see you guys! Although—how come you came early? Kyoya has reservations for tomorrow because you said that's when you'd be here."

Kaoru, sitting down, took up the explanation. "Oh, the boss here thought it would be fun to surprise you guys. We were kind of hoping to find Kyoya's apartment less than prepared, but it's spotless."

She laughed. "Yeah, he's not a fan of clutter. I'm pretty sure my books weren't stacked in alphabetical order when I fell asleep, but they are now."

"Well," started Hikaru slyly, "we did find one thing."

Haruhi sat down next to Kyoya and tucked her feet underneath her, letting her knees fall to the side. This would have been perceived as a natural Haruhi sitting position by the audience, except that 'the side' also happened to be Kyoya's lap. Neither of them seemed to notice the familiarity of their position. The twins looked at each other significantly, as if to say, _What, no personal space now? She's practically sitting in his lap! _

Tamaki tried to keep his inner giggling from leaving his mouth. _How cute! Who is he kidding, 'not together, now or ever'! _

"What did you find out of place? Everything seemed organized when I left," Haruhi asked, puzzled.

"Well.."

"We found a suspicious female sleeping on his couch!"

"You would think he'd have told us—"

"—if there was a special woman in his life, right?"

"But no, we just got yelled at for ringing the doorbell!"

"'You morons will wake her up' he said!"

"And then there was our beloved former classmate—

"the host club's own special princess—

"all tucked in on his couch, wearing what looks suspiciously like—

"like his pants!"

Haruhi blinked. "So what? It's not like you guys don't borrow each other's clothing!"

Kyoya was done with this conversation topic. Very done. "As I've already explained, Haruhi and I are not together. Now, please, can we talk about something else?"

"But!" Tamaki sputtered, "But _look_ at you!" he gestured wildly at them. The twins nodded in unison. Kyoya and Haruhi looked at their friends, then at each other, slowly. Haruhi was the first to break eye contact. "What? I don't understand."

No words came from the young men, but all six eyebrows rose in disbelief.

She looked back at him, only to find a soft blush tingeing his otherwise pale face. "What?" she asked him, softly.

"Haruhi," he said, surprisingly calm, "we may be a bit closer than we'd thought."

He placed his hand on her knee, and she glanced down at it in surprise.

"Oh," she whispered. And for the first time in a long, long time, Haruhi blushed.

(She did not, however, move away.)


	4. Chapter 4

Kyoya did, of course, make pizza that night, to Haruhi's delight and the rest of the club's fascination. There were a few jokes about Kyoya making a perfect housewife, with his spotless apartment and his excellent cooking skills, but other than that the subject of his love life (or rather their love life) was dropped for the evening. When everyone was full and Kyoya was busy with his cake, Tamaki suggested a game, and Haruhi pulled a few puzzles out of a closet. (After the disaster afterwards referred to as "the monopoly incident", games were outlawed by a vote in the host club—6 to 1 in favor of never playing a game ever again. Tamaki was devastated.) Haruhi's books were placed reverently on the couch (along with the newspaper, the remote, and a paperweight) and the pieces of the chosen puzzle dumped in the middle of the vacated coffee table. Tamaki took charge of the project with gusto, praising the makers of the puzzle for its intrigue and complexity, and concentrating far too hard on the picture of the puzzle, instead of the pieces in front of him. The twins worked fast, and side-by-side, stopping occasionally to taunt their king for his lack of progress_. It's funny how life works, isn't it, Mom? _Haruhi thought_. It used to be so frustrating dealing with these guys and their idiosyncrasies, but I've really missed them. It's kind of nice to have everyone together again, and I'll bet it will be even better tomorrow. _

When Kyoya's cake was settled in the oven, he came out and sat between Haruhi and Tamaki, choosing to hand pieces to Tamaki helpfully, rather than start his own section, or get in Haruhi's way.

"Hey, Tamaki-senpai?" Haruhi asked. "How come you didn't ask Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai to come early too?"

Tamaki sighed dramatically. "I did! But they had a family thing, they couldn't come. But I suppose it's for the best—we wouldn't want them to neglect their family, right?"

"Of course not," Kyoya agreed. "Here, this piece has red in it too."

Hikaru was a bit upset about loosing Tamaki as a target. "How come you've started helping the boss, Kyoya-senpai?"

"Yeah, shouldn't you be helping Haruhi?" chipped in Kaoru.

"I'm not an idiot," said Kyoya matter-of-factly, glancing toward the sole female in the room, whose section of the puzzle was almost finished (and whose calm intensity upon puzzling was terrifying). "Haruhi is perfectly capable of doing things herself. I would only be getting in her way."

He handed Tamaki another red piece, and pointed to where it should go.

Tamaki looked up at Kyoya, wet puppy-dog eyes gleaming. "Do you—do you think I am not capable, mon ami? Do you think I am stupid?"

Kyoya sighed. "Of course not. You just solve problems better in a group, rather than on your own. I am simply placing this problem in a situation that you are better suited to solving."

Tamaki brightened instantly. "Oh! That is so nice of you, Kyoya!"

"I'm not sure—"

"that that was a complement, boss."

"Although it is nice of him."

* * *

><p>Kyoya offered to walk Haruhi back to her dorm room, since it was nearly midnight by the time they were finished with the puzzle and ready to sleep, so the guests were alone in the apartment, opening suitcases and arranging bedding.<p>

Tamaki had generously offered to take the floor (since there was only one bed), so he was busy digging around in the linen closet for an extra pillow.

"Are you sure you don't want to share the bed with us, boss?"

"Yeah, there's plenty of room!"

"Don't be stupid!" Tamaki sputtered, "You'd just knock me out in the middle of the night, so I'd be sleeping on the floor anyway! This way, at least I won't freeze, or hurt my back!"

Finding the pillow, he moved back into the room to sit on the edge of the bed, where the twins were busy playing what was probably a weird twin version of 'king of the hill'. They stopped pushing each other as he sat down.

"So," Tamaki started, a bit nervously, "Do you think they are hiding their relationship, or are they just that oblivious?"

"I think they're telling the truth, boss," Kaoru said, seriously. Hikaru nodded.

"So they really don't see it?"

The twins shrugged. "I guess not."

"Hm. I wonder why? It's pretty obvious to the rest of us."

Kaoru tapped his chin in thought. "Well, I guess we'll have to ask Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai when they get here tomorrow. They tend to have an idea of what is really going on with people."

Hikaru grinned a suspiciously sneaky grin. "Hey, maybe they can help us make a plan!"

The other two looked at him, confused, until Kaoru caught up with his brother's train of thought. "A plan to get them together! Of course!"

Tamaki let out what was probably supposed to be an evil laugh. "Yay! I love plans!"

* * *

><p>Kyoya sighed, his breath coming out in puffs in the cold air.<p>

"Are you secretly a dragon?" Haruhi asked, walking beside him. "Because I could see that."

He glared at her good-naturedly, but it was dark, so he 'hmph'ed as well, just in case she didn't catch the glare.

She laughed softly, and took his hand in hers. _Ugh, so cold_. "I suppose we should get out the gloves, huh? I wonder where they are?"

"Your gloves are in the pockets of your winter coat, as are mine. Forgive me if I'm reluctant to give up my lighter coat just yet."

"How come you know where my gloves are?"

He sighed again. "Because in March, when you put them away, you said, 'Kyoya, when I want my gloves in the fall, remind me that I put them in these pockets, okay?' and I said, 'Alright, I will.' So I have."

"You have a really good memory."

"Hm."

They were silent for a bit, the sharp sound of their footsteps on frozen concrete and of the intersection two blocks down taking over.

"Hey, is there something bothering you?" Haruhi asked, quietly.

_Concerned_, he thought. "Why, does it seem so?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Usually you'd offer to let me stay, instead of walking me home."

"Well, there are a few idiots taking up my spare room."

"I could have taken the couch," she shrugged.

A few beats of silence, again. He opened his mouth to answer, but shut it again, considering.

"Not that I'm complaining, Kyoya. I mean, I'd rather sleep in my own room. I know Tamaki's going to be up at the crack of dawn, and I'd rather not be there for that."

"I'm sorry, you know. For everything they said. I tried to tell them before you woke up, but they won't listen to me. I'm not sure what to do about it. You know they're probably planning something."

They'd reached the entrance to her dorm, and she was pulling her hand out of his to unlock the front door. "Wait, is that what you're concerned about? That they think we're together?"

He deliberated until she reached for his hand again, door unlocked. "Not so much that they think so, just…" he trailed off as she pulled him into the building and down the hallway to her room. They both stopped in front of her door, and she dropped his hand in favor of her keys again. "It's just that—well—"

"That it's sorta true?"

He frowned. "What?"

Her room was dark, as Tish had gone home for break, so he waited while she stumbled toward the light-switch, half-way across the room. The light blinked on, and she held out her hand in invitation. "You know," she said, "like, we do sorta act like it. I mean_, I_ know we're not a couple, and _you _know we're not a couple, but we do tend to get mistaken for one. And it's not like either of us has had any luck convincing any significant others that this is an innocent relationship."

He wasn't sure he wanted to come in and have this conversation, but the other option was to go home and pretend he didn't hear the others planning his inevitable wedding.

He sighed and came in.

"You want some tea?" she said, ever the gracious host.

He looked at his watch—almost 1:30 AM. "What the hell," he said, "I supposed it wouldn't hurt."

She smiled and put the water on.

"I'm bothered because I know they aren't going to let it go."

"Ha!" she laughed, "Right! You, really? You can't just make it all go away?"

"Haruhi—"

"Come on, Kyoya, I know it's not that. You'd be annoyed, but not _bothered_, not like this. You'd be plotting revenge, or something. But you're not, you're….well?"

He crossed his arms and stared back at her. "Well, what?"

"You're-you're _moping_."

"Tsk," he started, "Ootori do not mope."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, this one is. So, why is that, huh? What would make the great and powerful Ootori mope?"

He let out the breath he must have been holding in and sat down at the little kitchen table next to her little dorm-room stove. The tea-pot whistled, and she turned away from him for a moment.

There really wasn't time to think up something to say_. Although_, he thought_, it wouldn't really matter if I had a year to think. She'd know if I wasn't telling her the truth. _

She placed two mugs on the table and sat in front of one. "So?"

He took a few moments to acquaint himself with the cup of tea before answering. "I just don't want to be a hindrance."

The heater kicked on in the background.

"What?"

He sighed. "Look, it's one thing for strangers to assume, or even for jealous boyfriends to wonder, that's all inconsequential. But these are our closest friends. They know us, they'd believe us, if they thought we were telling the truth. The fact that they don't seem to means it's worse than we thought—that maybe—maybe—"

"Maybe what?"

His voice was small, soft, apologetic. "Maybe we're closer than we should be."

"I—" her mouth opened and closed several times before sounds came out again. "I don't understand. Don't we get to decide how close we are? I mean, it's our friendship, right?"

"Haruhi—"

"No! Are you suggesting we change the very nature of our friendship to make other people more comfortable? Or to make them stop talking about us?"

"Of course not!"

"Then what are you suggesting, Kyoya?"

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, more upset than she'd seen him in a long while. Part of her regretted the questions—it was so late, they were both so tired. And yet…

"I'm suggesting that maybe all the people who haven't wanted to date us _because of us_ weren't being as ridiculous as we thought."

She sipped her tea, but didn't say anything.

"I just—I mean, I don't think that giving you an ultimatum was a reasonable approach to the problem, and certainly not so soon in the relationship, but I suppose, if I were in his situation, I would be frustrated with me as well."

"Because I sleep over at your house sometimes?"

"I'm only concerned that we may never find people who would be able to trust that this is a platonic relationship. It was a vague concern before, but now," he sighed, "if our best friends can't see it, I don't think anyone will."

She was quiet long enough that he looked up at her, catching the soft light of realization in her face.

"You're concerned about me."

He frowned, confused.

"You're not concerned that you won't find someone, you're concerned that you'll be the reason I don't."

"And what if I am?"

Her hands balled up into fists on the table top. "So, what if you are? It's my life, it's my decision, isn't it? I want to be with you! So I'm going to make an effort to keep this—this—whatever it is! friendship going! I'm not letting you go just because you think I'd have a better chance at romance if you aren't around!"

"Haruhi, please—"

"Didn't you say you thought we were soulmates, Kyoya? Do you really want to lose that? Or even let part of it go?"

She was crying. She was _crying. _ For a moment, he wanted only to punch the idiot who'd made her cry in the face—realizing it was him didn't lessen the urge. "Of course not!" he whispered, taking her hands in his. "I'd like very much for everything to just stay the same as it has been, but the last thing I want is to be a burden to you. I just want you to know, I wouldn't hate you if you backed off. Maybe not now, but someday."

She sighed, pulling a hand away to wipe her eyes on her sleeve. "We talked about this. You're not a burden, not ever. I have no idea where you got that idea. I simply refuse to be in a relationship that hurts this one in any way, and if that means there will never be anyone for me, than—well, then there won't be. I'd much rather not loose you, Kyoya."

"To be completely honest, I feel the same. But, one day maybe we'll change our minds—"

"Then we'll talk about it then. Until then, we're not changing anything for anybody. Not even Tamaki and company, right?"

He let out a small, almost invisible smile. "Right."

She smiled back, and squeezed the hand she held over the table. "Now, drink your tea so you can go home and sleep. You're going to need your rest if you're going to be dealing with Tamaki and the twins in a few hours."

He groaned. Morning was not going to be fun.

* * *

><p>Holy crap that was an emotional ride to write. This chapter turned out both better and worse than planned, don't ask how, as I'm still pretty confused as well. Anyhow, hope you like it, and thanks for reading!<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Tamaki watched the stove clock blink 10:00 AM and turned to glance hopefully at Kyoya's bedroom door. "I don't think that's going to wake him up, boss," Hikaru smirked.

"Yeah, I don't think he's sensitive to your glaring," agreed Kaoru.

"Well, I'm not going in there, if that's what you're suggesting!" he replied, defensively, and a bit louder than would be advised. The twins both ducked behind the counter, giggling.

"If he wakes up from your yelling—"

"-we're not taking the blame, idiot!"

He ducked down with them, then slowly peeked over the top towards the bedroom. "I'm too young to die!" he whispered dramatically.

"Too bad, boss," Kaoru grinned and nudged his shoulder, "you wake up Kyoya, you die. Those are the rules." Hikaru almost successfully held in his amusement.

"Don't laugh at my doom! You are such a bad child, you should be ready to defend me! I am your father!"

"He's not your son, senpai."

The boys turned round at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Haruhi—"

"-when did you get here?"

"and how did you get in?"

"Wait, is that breakfast? I'm starving, and there's nothing in this kitchen!"

"Seriously, there's two carrots and some left-over pasta—"

"—but there's no way we're eating Italian food for breakfast!"

Tamaki's eyes widened as an idea occurred to him. "Haruhi!" he said, returning to his former volume level. "We should have an American breakfast since we are in America, right?!"

The twins grabbed an arm each to restrain his enthusiasm. "Shush, boss! You're going to wake him up, remember!"

His hands flew to his mouth, and all three of them peeked up over the counter again.

Haruhi sighed.

"You guys are being stupid. Kyoya wouldn't wake up if you threw a wild party in here, he doesn't care about noise. He only wakes up for light and his alarm clock—and to be honest, sometimes the alarm clock doesn't work either."

They all just sat there on the floor and blinked at her as she puttered around Kyoya's kitchen, putting away what appeared to be a few days worth of groceries. She disappeared behind the refrigerator door with some eggs. "Wow!" her disembodied voice said, "you guys were right, there isn't anything in here! I knew he didn't have eggs because he put them in the cake, but it's worse than I thought!" She reappeared as the door closed and looked at them, brows furrowed. "I might have to go back to the store later. There should be enough for a nice breakfast, though, if you want to help me get started."

Tamaki bounded up off the floor like the golden retriever he is, overjoyed at the opportunity to help. Hikaru stood and held out his hand to help up his brother, noticing the university lanyard around Haruhi's neck as he did so. "Is that how you got in, Haruhi?" he asked, tilting his chin in her general direction.

She slipped it off and set it on the counter. "Yeah, how else would I have gotten in? The door was locked."

"You have a key?" the twins asked in unison.

She blinked at them. "Um, yeah? That's what you do when you don't have servants. You give a spare key to someone you trust, just in case you lock yourself out or something."

Kaoru smirked. "Isn't the point of a building like this so that you can just call maintenance or something?"

She stuck out her tongue at him and pulled the eggs back out of the refrigerator. "Should we make some pancakes and scrambled eggs, or maybe French toast?" she asked the other two.

"WE SHOULD HAVE SOME HASHBROWNS," Tamaki exclaimed, forgetting, once again, the sleeping host in the next room.

Haruhi just laughed and pulled a few potatoes out from under the sink.

* * *

><p>Breakfast was cooked and eaten (with only 2 major incidences—Haruhi just hoped she hadn't used all her luck before noon), and Kyoya was still asleep. "Their flight gets in at 12:30, right?" Hikaru asked, glancing at Kyoya's bedroom door.<p>

Haruhi sighed. "I'll wake him up."

A collective gasp from the other three stopped her in her tracks. "It's okay guys, I promise. I'm just going to open the blinds."

She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile and ducked into the room she would probably die in, as her friends grieved for the life she could have lived, if only she had listened to them.

"My own dear daughter!"

"She's dead. Haruhi is long gone."

"Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai didn't even get to see her!"

"What are we going to do? Should we call the police?"

"We can't call the police on Kyoya, he's our friend! THEY'D DEPORT HIM! WHAT ABOUT HIS EDUCATION!"

"Boss, if he kills Haruhi, who cares about his education?"

"Yeah, what's with that?"

Haruhi stepped out of the now lightened bedroom and raised an eyebrow at her over-dramatic friends. "Guys, I'm not dead. He'll be ready in a few minutes, so we'll have time to get to the airport before they land." She pulled the plate of various breakfast foods she'd saved for Kyoya out of the refrigerator and put it in the microwave. "Do any of you know how to drive?"

The twin's hands shot up eagerly. Haruhi looked at each of them discerningly and pulled a set of keys off the top of the refrigerator. "Here," she said, handing them to Kaoru, "take the elevator all the way down, it's the first spot after the support beam. It's marked with the room number. If you can't find it, just hit the unlock button."

"Hey, I can drive too! How come Kaoru gets to drive!?"

"Because he won't get any weird ideas," she turned back to the brother with the keys, "Just follow the arrows out of the garage and turn left. We should be down as you are pulling up."

"Got it!"

"Hey! I'm capable! Kaoru, let me push the button, at least!"

"Boys! You have to be responsible! Haruhi has entrusted you with Kyoya's car, you mustn't be childish! Oh, why do I always have to keep you two in line!?"

And with that, Haruhi was alone with the beeping microwave.

For a moment, anyhow. Kyoya stumbled out of the bedroom, mostly dressed, but obviously not awake. "Haruhi," he said gruffly, "which of these buttons is the bottom one?"

Her laugh thawed him out of his drowsiness, and he let out a bit of a smile. A bit more than he would have liked..

"Here," she giggled, buttoning him up, "let me do it. You have a tie?"

He snorted. "I didn't think I could manage it. And we're just going to the airport, Haru."

Her hands fussed with his collar anyhow. "I saved you some breakfast, if you want it."

"Where'd you get breakfast from? I don't recall having anything decent in the fridge."

She pulled him over to the counter and pushed him onto the barstool with food in front of it. "I went shopping, and the guys helped me make it. I can't believe you slept through it, I think Tamaki wrote a song while Kaoru was grating the potatoes."

He chuckled, but, realizing the suspicious peace in his apartment, grew serious. "Haruhi?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Where are they?"

"They guys? I sent them to pull the car up. Why?"

_Serious_ quickly turned into _concerned_. "Please tell me you gave Kaoru the keys."

She smiled and nodded. "I'm not stupid, Kyoya. Now come on, we have to go! Stop talking, start eating!"

He shook his head_. This visit is going to be the death of me_.

* * *

><p>The drive was fairly uneventful, as much as could possibly be expected. Kaoru successfully drove all the way to the airport (Hikaru sat in the front with a gps app open), and Tamaki didn't try to lecture them at all. Kyoya and Haruhi both fell asleep in the back row of the SUV, Kyoya against the window, Haruhi buried into his shoulder. Tamaki thought this was adorable, and took a few pictures before waking up Haruhi (in order to wake up Kyoya, obviously. He wasn't completely stupid) when they reached their destination.<p>

They made it to the gate without complications (unless you count Hikaru having an actual fight with the parking-pass machine as a complication), and were scanning the crowd for Mori when a whirl of blonde came out of nowhere and attached himself to Haruhi.

"Haru-chan! Kyo-chan! Yay, it's so nice to see you guys!"

He was not, however, quite as small as he had been. "Wow, Honey-senpai, you've gotten taller!"

"Yeah, I finally caught up to Chika-chan!"

Mori nodded his assent.

"Well," Kyoya said, "We'd better get your bags, and then we'll go home and get you fed. I'm sure you're hungry after your trip."

Mori's stomach chose that moment to rumble. He patted it, as if to shut it up.

"Takashi!" Honey laughed, "You _are_ hungry, huh!"

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>Kyoya drove home (Haruhi declared him fully awake and capable), and Haruhi sat passenger-side to help with the directions.<p>

When it seemed like the two of them were distracted enough by traffic, Honey tapped Kaoru on the shoulder. "Kao-chan, are they dating?"

"I know, right?" Hikaru said, crossing his arms.

"They say no," his brother answered, "but we think they may just be in denial."

Tamaki stepped in, remembering to whisper this time. "She was asleep on his couch when we got here, and she has a key to his home! She even went grocery shopping this morning!"

"They are always up in each other's space, and they don't even notice!"

"She woke him up this morning!"

"—and she didn't even die!"

Mori tapped Honey's arm and pointed to the front of the vehicle, where Haruhi was holding her phone over the wheel so Kyoya could see the map. They couldn't hear what they were talking about, but whatever it was was making Kyoya smile, and Haruhi was scrunching up her nose at him.

"Woah," Honey whispered, "it's worse than I thought."

"So, you guys want to help us get them together?" Kaoru asked.

Honey looked at Mori, and they turned to the others simultaneously. "We're in."

* * *

><p>So I was planning on going farther than that but it got long. The next chapter will have Honey being wise and Haruhi having abandonment issues. Hopefully. Unless I get caught up in the minor details again.<p> 


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